Morpho-molecular Variation in Indian Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.) Varieties and Landraces

Abstract

A total of 38 fi nger millet genotypes including 18 released varieties and 20 landraces from India were evaluated
and compared based on RAPD, ISSR markers and morphological data collectively. RAPD markers showed
higher polymorphism (61.62 %) as compared to ISSR (57.00 %) markers. The mean number of bands per
primer and Jaccard’s similarity coeffi cients generated for the markers RAPD, ISSR was 12.9; 0.810 and 14.3;
0.782 respectively. UPGMA clustering, and Structure analysis placed the landraces and varieties in separate
groups with some exceptions. The data for 13 qualitative traits revealed diversity mainly for ear shape and ear
size. ANOVA analysis of the 14 quantitative traits showed most of the characters to have signifi cant difference,
representing the presence of genotypic differences among the 38 genotypes studied. The morpho-variability
as well as variation based on molecular markers was higher in the landraces compared to the varieties. The
usage of more diverse landraces as genitors to augment the genetic base and identify genes for adaptive and
nutritional variations as well as conservation of more landraces to maximize the available genetic diversity of
fi nger millet was emphasized.